Over $1T in COVID federal funds unspent: GAO

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) estimates that more than $1 trillion in federal coronavirus funds have not been spent, a new report shows.

The report comes less than two weeks after Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said the Budget Committee had reached an agreement to allot $3.5 trillion for a spending package that would complete President Biden’s infrastructure plan. 

"Despite over $1 trillion in unspent federal funds sitting in accounts, Democrats are focused instead on how they can spend trillions more by reaching back into taxpayers’ pockets or adding more to the nation’s debt," House Budget Committee Republican Leader Jason Smith, R-Mo., said in a Tuesday statement. 

The $1 trillion figure includes $156 billion approved by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and $210 billion that the federal government allocated for state and local governments. A number of state and local governments have been planning ways to make use of the federal funds for needs unrelated to COVID-19, such as local infrastructure.